Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Two soldiers, Lance Corporals Musa Maidabra and Edwin George,
serving at 122D30 Regiment in Maiduguri, Borno State, have been
arrested for transporting the ransom that was paid for the release
of the wife of the Central Bank Governor, Margaret Emefiele.

Emefiele and three others were abducted along Benin-Agbor Road
about two weeks ago and were released 24 hours later after the
payment of undisclosed amount to their abductors.
The two soldiers said they received N6.5m each as their share of
the ransom estimated to be around N80m.

Maidabra and George, who were paraded alongside seven others
on Monday in Abuja for alleged involvement in the kidnapping,
said they were given the money for assisting the gang to transport
the ransom to a hideout in Benin, the Edo State capital.

Maidabra said, “We were not involved in the kidnapping; we only
assisted them to transport the money to a location. We carried the
money and ran away with it in a vehicle; it was part of my friend’s
share that I collected. We didn’t know the money was from a
kidnap operation.”

George corroborated his colleague, saying they provided security
cover for transporting the ransom to a hideout in Benin.
“I was not involved in the kidnap; the money they gave me was
over N6m. I asked about the source of the money, but they didn’t
tell me,” he said.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Donald Awunah, said the police
recovered N14,725,000, two Honda Accord cars, an Audi car, one
AK 47 magazine and two cartridges from the gang.
He stated that a Jeep, valued at N1.5m and N4m cash were
recovered from Maidabra, while a Honda Accord, estimated at
N1.1m, was recovered from George.

Awunah explained that detectives recovered N7.7m from Musa out
of his N10m share, adding that he sustained bullet wounds after a
gun duel with the police while trying to escape from the forest
where they had kept their victim.

He said, “Mohammed Sule confessed to have received N10m in
cash as part of his share of the ransom paid and claimed a soldier
and a gang leader escaped with the rest of the loot. Another
suspect, Ibrahim Abdullahi, admitted to have received N10m in
cash.

“The police will continue to limit the capacity of kidnappers and
other criminals to disrupt the quality of life of Nigerians by the
deployment of adequate manpower and resources in crime
reduction, detection and prosecution of offenders.”
On the payment of ransom, the police noted that it was sometime
used as a bait or bargaining chip to save the lives of victims of
crime.

“It is absolutely important to mention that the police do not and
will not encourage payment of ransom,” Awunah added.
punch report